In the next week or so, the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to decide the two same-sex marriage cases before it by either mandating same-sex marriage across the country or "punting" the cases on procedural grounds, Professor David S. Cohen told Fox News affiliate Fox40 in California.

The two cases before the court involve the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Proposition 8, the California law which banned same sex marriage, Cohen said. Cohen said that a decision rejecting the laws would allow same-sex marriage in every state. On the other hand, the court could "punt" the cases, rejecting them on procedural grounds because it is questionable whether the third-parties defending the laws in each case have the right to do so, Cohen added.

An expert on discrimination law, Cohen has published articles in the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, George Washington Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, Boston University Law Review, South Carolina Law Review and the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law.